Amiddle school teacher in the northern city of Treviso has exempted two Muslim students from studying Dante on the grounds that it is a religious work that clashes with their Islamic faith, local dailies reported Friday. The Divine Comedy, with its visions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, is stepped in medieval Christianity and the Prophet Mohamed is one of the historical figures placed in the Inferno. The teacher asked the families of all the students who are exempted from religious studies on religious grounds if they also wanted to be exempted from studying the greatest Christian poet, and two families said yes. The case spurred criticism Friday with centre-left Democratic Party (PD) Senator Simona Malpezzi saying it was "profoundly wrong" to deprive any student of the "deep knowledge of Italian culture that studying Dante brings". She added: "Knowing Dante does not take anything away from the children's religious confession".
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Abandon all hope, ye who let them enter here